Despite CNN’s Rogue Journalism, The IAEA Confirms the Centrifuges are Gone
The centrifuges at the Fordow site “are no longer operational.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not hold back Thursday morning, slamming the legacy media during a fiery Pentagon press conference. He said their hatred for President Donald Trump was driving their coverage of last weekend’s U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. “Because you cheer against Trump so hard, in your DNA and in your blood, cheer against Trump because you want him not to be successful so bad, you have to cheer against the efficacy” of the strikes.
The American media is going to squeal very loudly after this press conference; he destroyed them.
The key line from Pete Hegseth to the media is clear: "Searching for scandals, you miss historic moments." pic.twitter.com/5txT1A0OzS
— Dale Jackson – AL and TN’s Most Trusted Journalist (@TheDaleJackson) June 26, 2025
The Trump administration is fighting back hard against the “fake news” media following CNN’s reckless and misleading report late Tuesday that claimed the U.S. strikes on three of Iran’s key nuclear sites only set the theocratic regime’s nuclear program back by a few months. Anonymous officials had leaked a preliminary “low confidence” assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency to CNN reporters.
Sources told The New York Post that the DIA assessment, which had been labeled “top secret,” was “compiled on Sunday without input from other intelligence agencies. … That suggests the report authors did not use CIA or other assets inside Iran to verify the extent of the damage nor rely on audio or online communications that may have been intercepted by the National Security Agency.”
But the report’s glaring limitations didn’t stop CNN from breathlessly presenting it as fact. They had a narrative to push — undermining the Trump administration — and the DIA assessment fit it perfectly.
The White House has launched an investigation into the source(s) of the leak to CNN reporters. The administration also plans to limit its sharing of classified information with Congress.
After rebuking the legacy media for their rogue journalism, Hegseth reaffirmed what he and Trump had stated on Sunday: the strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities.
He shared a lengthy list of other more reliable assessments that suggested the sites had sustained serious damage.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi told Radio France Internationale on Thursday that Iran’s nuclear program has “suffered enormous damage.” Specifically, Grossi said that the centrifuges at the Fordow site “are no longer operational.”
He explained, “We can’t fully assess, and no one can say exactly what the extent of the damage is. But we already know that, given the power of those weapons and the technical characteristics of a centrifuge, we know that these centrifuges are no longer operational. These are machines with delicate positioning—there are rotors, there are parts—so the damage must have been total.”
Grossi stressed that while the damage was extremely significant at “the three major sites: Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow, where Iran had concentrated most of its uranium enrichment and conversion activities,” there are some sites that have not been hit.
IRAN WAR: The IAEA confirms centrifuges are gone. pic.twitter.com/r3w1kFmfnu
— @amuse (@amuse) June 26, 2025
Additionally, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry told Al Jazeera on Wednesday, “Yes, our nuclear installations have been badly damaged — that’s for sure — because it has come under repeated attacks by Israeli and American aggressors.”
Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman: "Yes, our nuclear installations have been badly damaged — that's for sure — because it has come under repeated attacks." pic.twitter.com/1e9bwcMh7c
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 26, 2025
A report from the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security says the Israeli and U.S. attacks “have effectively destroyed Iran’s centrifuge enrichment program.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe stated that new intelligence indicates Iran’s nuclear program was “severely damaged” and that key facilities were “destroyed” and would require years to rebuild.
Israeli officials believe the damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan is “very significant” and that the total damage from Israeli and U.S. strikes has set back the Iranian nuclear program by two years.
Basically, the only person to agree with CNN’s assessment is Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. In a video message released on Thursday, he claimed the U.S. strikes had “no major effect” on Iran’s nuclear sites.
Strangely, Khamenei also declared victory in the war with Israel. He said, “America’s regime got involved in a direct war because it felt that if it didn’t, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed. But there was no achievement from this war. Here the Islamic Republic was the victor and, rather, we delivered a hard slap to America’s face.”
It sure doesn’t look like victory.
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Those of us who are old enough to remember Yellow Cake gate…. ummm yeah they need to show us the receipts.
Another instance of the media lying and not fact checking “support a narrative”
You realize Saddam’s regime WAS trying to buy uranium, right?
If the same ass-hats were in charge now, they would drag us into a ground war with Russia and Iran.
There premise of the war was Saddam had it (NOT TRUE) and tons of other awful weapons which was mostly NOT TRUE.
A lot of American’s died because those ass-hats dragged us into an optional war and did not have the receipts. Blood and treasure.
After COVID, you should know better than to ever believe the government, the news or what rando sycophants true believers on the internet say.
You shouldn’t forget that Sadat lied, he openly claimed to have an active effort to build a nuke – and managed to convince other nations (including us) and HIS OWN GENERALS that that was so. The fact that he had used chemical WMDs already against both the Iranians and his own people made it even more concerning.
In the case of “modern” Iran (for certain meanings of that word) they also lied – but mostly in the opposite direction – and unconvincingly to boot. They’ve repeatedly said on the one hand they’re not enriching uranium or on the other hand they are – but no one should worry that they’re spending a ungodly portion of their (granted by Obama) wealth in enriching it well beyond that necessary to only produce electricity – instead of nuke bombs.
Hell, they’ve even produced and released a video threat with a mock-up of a nuke bomb to threaten us (and Israel) last week. If we believe what they’re are known to have done and are known to say internally to their people – Iran with a nuke will use a nuke. On us.
After 30 years of buying all the parts and components and repeatedly having their nuclear scientists repeatedly go-boom, Iran was getting close. Israel likely knew exactly how much.
What I don’t believe until it’s verified is that they didn’t truck it out.
What I MIGHT believe on faith is that Isreal stole it. BB is done with letting the rest of the world play FAFO with their lives.
I’m not sure why regime change has not occurred yet. Unless the hard liners are tossed from power, this is a movie we’ll all watch again in 30 years. Next time we won’t be so lucky that the bullet misses the skull of the guy who will send in the B2s.
The U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003 largely on the claim that Saddam Hussein still had active chemical, biological, and possibly nuclear weapons programs.
• Post-invasion investigations (Iraq Survey Group reports) found:
• Iraq did not possess stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) at the time of the invasion.
• Saddam had the intent to resume WMD programs if sanctions were lifted but had largely dismantled these programs by the mid-1990s.
U.S. and Israeli intelligence officials at the time speculated that Saddam Hussein’s regime may have transferred chemical weapons or related materials to Syria in the months leading up to the war.
• Former Iraqi officials, including some defectors, also made claims that WMDs or components were moved across the border to Syria or buried in the desert.
And there were all those barrels of pesticide discovered all over. Which is basically a watered down nerve agent. (That’s true of almost all chemical pesticides – be careful lest your garden shed be declared a WMD site.)
What about the documents discovered that showed Hussein believed the weapon development program was far in advance of where it really was, and that he had WMD in reserve to be called on if needed?
We now think this belief of his was incorrect, but if even he didn’t know the truth how on earth were we to know? We couldn’t, so we had to assume the worst.
Contrast this “intelligence failure” to the one in Libya, where our intelligence agencies far underestimated the progress of Gadaffi’s nuclear program, the true extent of which we only learned when he saw Hussein being pulled out of his spiderhole and voluntarily surrendered for fear that would happen to him. He gave us everything he had, and it turned out to be far more than we’d thought he had.
Obviously Saddam moved them.
NO, that was not the premise of the war. At all.
The premise was that Iraq was violating the terms of the 1991 ceasefire by having an active WMD development program, and we had no way of knowing how far along it was so we had to assume the worst. As Condoleezza Rice said, we couldn’t wait for an imminent threat, because the first notice we got of such a threat might be a mushroom cloud, so we had to strike without one.
President Bush said, correctly, that Iraq had been trying to buy Uranium in Africa. Plame’s husband, in his report to the CIA, had verified this fact, and then lied about it in public.
Iran has demanded more quality, they will be shortly bee getting refresher ass whipping lessons.
Yes, Andy…
Lets ignore and obfuscate the fact that not a single intelligence agency of the US or any allied nation, nor any political leader in a position to know of the intelligence about Iraq’s WMD programs before or since the Iraq War, have come forward to disprove the global claim that Iraq had active and prolific WMD Programs prior to the beginning of the war.
The question isn’t “Did Iraq have WMD?” That question has been answered in the affirmative many, many times prior to the war by essentially every nation with a global intelligence capability.
The real question is: “Where did Iraq’s WMD go?”. Of course, simpletons such as yourself will never allow that question to be asked because the answer will likely destry your preferred world view. .
“Speaking at a news conference as he was set to leave the NATO summit in the Netherlands, Trump claimed the pilots are “devastated” by the suggestion the strikes were not a complete success.”
Air Force pilots “devastated” by news coverage? I seriously doubt that. These guys are not wimps.
Just like the typical haters in the media, you have no clue what he was actually saying, but twist for your own purposes. Thank you for the great illustration of pettiness.
Please tell me what he was saying, then? Because Trump has been speaking as if it somehow besmirches the character of the plane crews if someone says the strike isn’t effective. Which to me sounds an awful lot like what JR is saying.
(Which is pretty incredible considering how often I disagree with JR.)
He’s saying these people did an amazing job, completely succesful, and their mission should not be besmirched or denigrated by reports that are inaccurate and diminish what they did. It’s silly to take the words literally, which is what is being done by people bent on finding wrong, either in what was accomplished or in how something obvious is described.
Just so you know, as someone who has been in a related position to these pilots, saying the bombs dropped weren’t effective does nothing to take away from the aircrews involved. Period. Or, often, even the airplanes or munitions involved. The report that CNN quoted doesn’t diminish what they did. Do you know the CEP required to hit the targeted shafts at Fordow? Do you then know what the CEP is for the bombs used? Do you know that the ‘P’ stands for “Probability”? Do you know the exact engineering of the Fordow site?
I like Trump and I think CNN was simply trying to harm Trump’s standing by publishing the assessment. But I also think Trump’s defensive “Don’t besmirch those pilots” is a stupid argument, because that’s not happening at all, and I think it’s pure deflection.
I also think this was turned into a tempest when they could have (and, IMO, should have) simply said “That report is anecdotal, has insufficient data, actually gives a large range for possible results, and is preliminary. It’s also highly classified and we’ll find the folks who leaked it and send them to Leavenworth. We’ll put something together for you once we have some more solid intel on what happened.”
Despite all that, the story was/is actually about what CNN did/said, it’s deception, not what Trump said, which the comment raised ONLY get a dig in, a complete diversion. PERIOD!
Despite all that
Fine, Whatever. You came back at him all spit and vinegar, saying he was wrong. His motivation doesn’t matter if he was right. I was responding to YOUR characterization of his statement, because you were wrong, IMO.
Intention does matter, however, because it provides context, especially when taking things literally and out of context, which is exactly the case here. The comment was off topic. petty, and deserved the criticism, which was far from the “all spit and vinegar” that you allege.
To add, what did that comment really have to do with the story anyway?
He’s saying they’re disgusted to hear what the media are saying about their competence and effectiveness. As were the soldiers who won the Tet Offensive, after hearing that the media was driving the message that they lost it. I would be devastated and disgusted too.
Our Pilots serve with honor and I’m sure they don’t like being lied about by fake news communist traitors
And what lie was told about the pilots?
This is where my concern about Trump’s diversion rests. Nothing in the supposed report or even in the CNN article cast ANY aspersions on the pilots and how they did their job.
This whole thing should be about the effectiveness of the strike. I would prefer the administration not deflect from the success of the mission by implying the media is questioning the performance of the pilots.
It’s bad enough that the media is trying to generate controversy over SecDef’s use of the phrase “Boys in the Bombers” as though that is somehow denigrating to the female aviators involved. To my knowledge, no one is questioning the skill, dedication, or bravery of the aircrews.
“These guys are not wimps.”
Correct, unlike you.
This all you can complain about, Junior?
Weak, weak sauce.
Even for you.
Get the hell out of here.
CNN is anti-American propaganda.
again
why else do you think that iran would come to the table to talk
delaying tactics etc aside
they have been pounded into the sand
and within 10 days we should move intot heir oil fields and make them an offer they cant refuse
40/60 split and 1 mess up on your part we take over completely
It is interesting to watch how some go out of their way to diminish and twist what is newsworthy or otherwise important surrounding an event.
People have caught up. No wonder, according to Gallup, that 36% said they don’t trust the media “at all” while another third said they do not have much trust.
As to other TDSers, it’s virtually hopeless, but great that they are increasingly out of favor. It’s foolish to trust or listen to obsessed people loaded with rage.
And even with all the garbage they all throw, things are sure looking better than when they were happily in charge, wreaking destruction. Which is why they become more deranged as they commiserate among themselves, and show the rest why they cannot be trusted.
Oh, the strikes on the non-existent Iranian Islamofascist nuclear weapons facilities only set the non-existent Iranian nuclear weapons program and its goal of creating non-existent nuclear weapons, back a few months?
These Dhimmi-crat media shills/lapdogs/trained seals/stenographers are unspeakably vile and dishonest. Swapping out mendacious narratives without any shame and without missing a beat.
The leakers MUST be found, and then charged with everything in the US Code that they violated, with each one a separate offense. Have their sentences run sequentially rather than lumping them together. If they end up spending the next 25 years at federal expense, even after including the maximum amount of fines that accompany the felony prison time, it will be worth it simply “pour encourager les autres”.
Make them such a horrific example of what happens when you leak something, even if it’s complete BS, that anybody else will think twice about it.
The leaked report was marked “low confidence.” It wasn’t the leak that caused the ruckus, it was the MSM’s failure to report the entire story. Only by leaving out that fact did the media manage to create a tempest in a teapot.
It can be both instead of an “only”.
The leak was, granted, a mendacious attempt to lie by only revealing a partial truth. But – leaking any portion of even an incomplete / provisional classified document is treasonous if not actual treason. The Clinton News Network at this point is only “preaching to the choir” – they’ve already lost any credibility in both the Right and the Middle. Now they’re going for the remaining sane ones on the Left.
Technically it’s only treasonous if it was, say, given to Iran. There’s the whole problem with us never declaring war, anymore, so we don’t have any enemies to be treasonous to. But it DOES violate several laws concerning classified information that have stiff civil and criminal penalties.
The existence of enemies doesn’t even depend on the existence of a state of war, still less on there being a declaration thereof. Iran is an enemy of the USA, so anyone caught by two witnesses giving it aid and comfort with the motivation of adherence to its cause is guilty of treason. However giving it the same aid and comfort for some other reason, e.g. to gain a political advantage here in the USA, is not treason.
Both are low confidence because there is no one from the West inspecting the blast zone.
Regime change must happen. Leaving these Islamofascist psycho terrorists in charge is asking for trouble, down the road.
There should b Nuremburg like trials with executions.
I’ll argue with Beege from Hot Air… I know she’s reading this.
“Another sidebar narrative currently rippling through the media’s bloodstream is that the Iranians allegedly trucked out usable enriched uranium, perhaps as much as 400 kilos of the stuff, ”
ok- if there’s 400 kilos of stuff with a signature… get the damn shovel out and verify.
“Enriched” to what degree? Sixty percent is “enriched” but not sufficiently so to build weapons with it. (Or at least not practical weapons, as U235 enriched to a lesser degree can still be made into a weapon, although one that uses a mass of U far in excess of what is needed when using truly weapons-grade U.) If the U isn’t sufficiently enriched for weapons purpose and the centrifuges have been destroyed, Iran is holding almost weapons-grade U235, which isn’t particularly useful to them.
They already have long range missiles.
Everyone has container ships they can park in a major city’s harbour.
The delivery systems are there.
ALMOST weapons grade U235 is only useful as a prerequisite to produce either “dirty” bombs or weapons grade U235. It’s too high concentration to safely use in any know nuke power plant design and will degrade more quickly than normal fuel – it has NO “mostly peaceful” purpose.
It could be used in a dirty bomb, it is unacceptable to allow it to remain at large.
I’m sure they could track 400lbs of it in trucks. I saw a movie about it once, starring Clooney, IIRC. I’m sure Hollywood would never exaggerate. 😉
It could be shielded in lead, or underground.
Once again, the fake news turns out to be fake. Big surprise..
….and the protests are peaceful
and trump is aldolph
and america is racist
stop allowing the lefty narrative in the schools now
no more public funding
Pete’s planning a tat of a busted centrifuge to add to his body art.
That would be cool (if you like tats), but I fear it would be too involved to make it obvious what it was to the casual observer, thereby defeating the purpose of a tat.
Is that the purpose of a tat? I”m still trying to figure out the deeper meaning of the popular one that looks like the wearer was severely assaulted by a crateful of childs’ alphabet blocks.
Earlier this week, reports indicated that, according to a leak, an early assessment CNN’s credibility was ‘largely intact’ and the missteps only sped up their demise a few months.
Why bother when no one knows the depth of the facility?
“He explained, “We can’t fully assess, and no one can say exactly what the extent of the damage is. But we already know that, given the power of those weapons and the technical characteristics of a centrifuge, we know that these centrifuges are no longer operational. These are machines with delicate positioning—there are rotors, there are parts—so the damage must have been total.””
I would feel more comfortable if Israel was saying this was a smashing success (pun intended), including the enriched uranium, as I suspect they have the best information. Setting back their nuclear program by “two years” sounds relatively modest.
You cannot hate the leftist media enough….you just can’t.